Conor Sokolowsky ’23, a member of the varsity swim team, a 1693 Scholar and the new Class of 2023 President, is getting ready to dive into his career here at the College of William and Mary.
Sokolowsky was elected president by the Class of 2023 last Thursday, and he is excited to commit his time to academics, swimming and the Student Assembly. A Williamsburg local, Sokolowsky is already accustomed to life in Southeastern Virginia and has quickly adjusted to his fresh start at the College.
Despite having a full-time schedule with the varsity swim team, Sokolowsky wanted to find other ways to get involved around campus. In an effort to mix his academic interests with something professionally enriching, Sokolowsky decided to run for class president.
Sokolowsky spoke on the aspects of Student Assembly that peaked his interest and how he hopes to use the position to further connect the College with the broader Williamsburg community.
“I’ve always been interested in economics, specifically how economics can be applied to public policy, and I really wanted to get a little bit of experience,” Sokolowsky said.
“I’ve always been interested in economics, specifically how economics can be applied to public policy, and I really wanted to get a little bit of experience,” Sokolowsky said. “Here in Student Assembly, you’re actually managing money or coming up with policies that can actually be enacted, and I thought that be a really great way to get hands on experience with this. I’m hoping to apply ideas that I’m learning in economics to student government.”
Outside of his presidential campaign, Sokolowsky has already had to choose between various extracurricular opportunities at the College. When it came down to deciding whether being part of the varsity swim team would be a good choice for him during his four years here, he decided that it was an activity he wanted to make time for. Sokolowsky shared how swimming helps keep his day structured and the positives of being on the team.
“I’m not here on an athletic scholarship; they don’t really have any of those for swimming, so it was really more of a choice of whether I wanted to swim, and in the end, it was a decision I made to swim,” Sokolowsky said.
“I’m not here on an athletic scholarship; they don’t really have any of those for swimming, so it was really more of a choice of whether I wanted to swim, and in the end, it was a decision I made to swim,” Sokolowsky said. “Swimming provides a structure for my day and keeps me discipline. … I love the team, it’s like an instant hundred friends throughout the network and team, they’re awesome and it’s just been a blast.”
While Sokolowsky has already created some deep connections in his short time here as a student, he wants to continue to form bonds between the Williamsburg community and the College. Being a Williamsburg native, Sokolwsky understands some of the ways the Williamsburg City Council works and hopes to work with them as freshman class president.
Sokolowsky spoke on his aspirations of integrating student perspectives into the town’s decision — making process and helping create economic prosperity to benefit both the town and the College’s students.
“With student government, one thing is to actually create change, and work with the city council members. There are of really cool initiatives their trying to build to help with economic development…They need student support and that’s something I was hoping to leverage as class president and speak for the students.”
Along with this, Sokolowsky has several academic pursuits he wishes to accomplish in his time here and expressed interest in delving into unique disciplines throughout the social and computational sciences.
“I really want to do some economic research, and I’m hoping to double major in economics and computer science — computer science more as a tool,” Sokolowsky said. “I definitely want to do some economic research in the overlap of public policy and economics that can be applied to real world scenarios.”
Sokolowsky wanted to share advice for his fellow freshman and to ensure the class of 2023 that he and the other members of Student Assembly were always ready to listen to new ideas.
“As freshman, definitely focus on yourself, don’t overload yourselves…Speak out, make your voice heard, the other senators and I are super open to meeting with people and discussing new ideas,” Sokolowsky said.
“As freshman, definitely focus on yourself, don’t overload yourselves…Speak out, make your voice heard, the other senators and I are super open to meeting with people and discussing new ideas,” Sokolowsky said. “If they ever want to reach out or have anything to say make sure they say it, and not be afraid not to.”
